Bluemoon Angling Thread

We did seven sessions from early afternoon into dark. We had to work hard but ended up with about 12 barbel and the same number of chub. Three doubles amongst them. Really enjoyed my week on the Wye.

Interesting. They were spooky back in June and the lack of water since won't have helped.
 
We did seven sessions from early afternoon into dark. We had to work hard but ended up with about 12 barbel and the same number of chub. Three doubles amongst them. Really enjoyed my week on the Wye.
Will be fishing the Wye for the first time later this month. First course fishing I have done in nearly 50 years. Am going out with a guide so don't know exactly where other than somewhere near Ross on Wye. Cant wait!
 
Will be fishing the Wye for the first time later this month. First course fishing I have done in nearly 50 years. Am going out with a guide so don't know exactly where other than somewhere near Ross on Wye. Cant wait!
Who is guiding you mate?
 
Bit of a tale. I had organised to go out with a guy called Steve Pope but he had to pull out due to a family commitment. He recommended a chap called Graham Elliot who runs a B and B for Barbel fishermen in the area. So don’t know where we are fishing other than it’s in the Ross area.
 
Bit of a tale. I had organised to go out with a guy called Steve Pope but he had to pull out due to a family commitment. He recommended a chap called Graham Elliot who runs a B and B for Barbel fishermen in the area. So don’t know where we are fishing other than it’s in the Ross area.

Both very well known barbel anglers and senior members of the Barbel Society.
 
Interesting. They were spooky back in June and the lack of water since won't have helped.

Yes, it was tough. We couldn't really get them going and achieve multiple catches. It was one here, one there, sometimes after 6-7 hours. They seemed to sit in the weed I shallower water and move out on dusk to the channels, gullies and pools.
 
Controversial? Tell me more!

I honestly don't really know. You know what it's like with volunteers and clubs. A lot of people bitch about Steve Pope, but that might just be anonymous internet people who like to pitch. There have been major fallouts around the barbel scene about otters, too. Some believe that anglers are not doing themselves any good by ranting and raving about otters. I think the BS have come out recently and attacked the otter introductions, so it might be to do with that.

Sorry for being vague. The Carp Society was the same with everyone bitching about everyone else, so I take it all with a pinch of salt.
 
By the way, @mammutly, who I've fished with several times as a direct result of this forum, caught a 500lb marlin last week. I know for a fact he has spent many many years and many many trips and never caught one before, so imagine the buzz he is feeling!
 
By the way, @mammutly, who I've fished with several times as a direct result of this forum, caught a 500lb marlin last week. I know for a fact he has spent many many years and many many trips and never caught one before, so imagine the buzz he is feeling!
I honestly don't really know. You know what it's like with volunteers and clubs. A lot of people bitch about Steve Pope, but that might just be anonymous internet people who like to pitch. There have been major fallouts around the barbel scene about otters, too. Some believe that anglers are not doing themselves any good by ranting and raving about otters. I think the BS have come out recently and attacked the otter introductions, so it might be to do with that.

Sorry for being vague. The Carp Society was the same with everyone bitching about everyone else, so I take it all with a pinch of salt.
I did google Graham when I was looking for a guide and did see something about him being attacked by a fellow committee member in the club he was in. New one on me!

A marlin is a fish of a lifetime. I had a look at the cost when we were in holiday in Cairns but it was eye watering expensive. I have friends that have caught them off Mauritius. You would have to bloody fit to haul in one of those monsters.
 
I honestly don't really know. You know what it's like with volunteers and clubs. A lot of people bitch about Steve Pope, but that might just be anonymous internet people who like to pitch. There have been major fallouts around the barbel scene about otters, too. Some believe that anglers are not doing themselves any good by ranting and raving about otters. I think the BS have come out recently and attacked the otter introductions, so it might be to do with that.

Sorry for being vague. The Carp Society was the same with everyone bitching about everyone else, so I take it all with a pinch of salt.

That's why I've avoided the big fish scene like the plague. Too much conflict and competition. Come to that, I've avoided big fish like the plague.
 
I did google Graham when I was looking for a guide and did see something about him being attacked by a fellow committee member in the club he was in. New one on me!

A marlin is a fish of a lifetime. I had a look at the cost when we were in holiday in Cairns but it was eye watering expensive. I have friends that have caught them off Mauritius. You would have to bloody fit to haul in one of those monsters.

I went marlin fishing off Jamaica 20 years ago with a bunch of mates. We never saw a fish all day but by heck did the crew ply us with reefers as we sailed around for hours. I’m surprised the smoke signals weren’t read as an SOS in Trinidad.

I can’t remember exactly how many miles @mammutly has travelled, and how many times he had been out but it’s a lot. It’s been an obsession for years so you can imagine how he must have felt boating that fish.
 
I went marlin fishing off Jamaica 20 years ago with a bunch of mates. We never saw a fish all day but by heck did the crew ply us with reefers as we sailed around for hours. I’m surprised the smoke signals weren’t read as an SOS in Trinidad.

I can’t remember exactly how many miles @mammutly has travelled, and how many times he had been out but it’s a lot. It’s been an obsession for years so you can imagine how he must have felt boating that fish.
Ha ha, playing a Marlin whilst stoned might have been interesting!! My mate says Marlin fishing is 99% boredom and 1% pure Adrenalin. He has caught two or three. I think the biggest was in the 700’s. Being a strong advocate of catch and release I asked him if he had put it back. No mate, he said. More valuable to the fishing crew dead. Sad to say the poor beast was despatched with a baseball bat. That’s a few years ago mind so hopefully conservation is better these days. Certainly when I looked at it in oz it was strictly catch and release with the fish deemed caught when the angler touched its bill and tagged it.

I can imagine how your mate felt. It must be the absolute pinnacle of game fishing. His personal Aguero moment!
 
Ha ha, playing a Marlin whilst stoned might have been interesting!! My mate says Marlin fishing is 99% boredom and 1% pure Adrenalin. He has caught two or three. I think the biggest was in the 700’s. Being a strong advocate of catch and release I asked him if he had put it back. No mate, he said. More valuable to the fishing crew dead. Sad to say the poor beast was despatched with a baseball bat. That’s a few years ago mind so hopefully conservation is better these days. Certainly when I looked at it in oz it was strictly catch and release with the fish deemed caught when the angler touched its bill and tagged it.

I can imagine how your mate felt. It must be the absolute pinnacle of game fishing. His personal Aguero moment!

I went shark fishing about ten years ago on Tenerife. It was a bit of a joke in retrospect to be honest, a tourist trap. The previous trip out had caught one and it's carcass was on the deck with it's teeth and fin removed. Then they just turfed its body over the side. I was disgusted.

I'd hope @mammutly will recount the tale of the marlin on here when he's back. I checked back on his texts and it's taken him 25 years, and it took in the last minute of his last all day trip.
 
I'm staying at Docklow Pools next weekend and really looking forward to it and hopefully getting on the Docklow stretch of the Wye.

I used to go regularly for a week to fish their big lake for carp and cats. It's a nice place and the carp are piss easy to catch. The other lakes are match lakes if that's your thing. Let me know if you want any tips for the big lake. I didn't fish their Wye stretch but had a morning on their stretch of The Teme. I blanked.
 

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